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OTTAWA - It was an unexpected announcement during the flight from Mexico to Ottawa on Canada One Thursday, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper took to the intercom to tell passengers he wanted to talk about gold.

A jubilant sounding Harper told those on board - the business delegation, parliamentary press and a small army of sharply dressed staffers who joined him on the Mexican trip - that Canada's Olympic women's hockey team had just beat their Yankee rivals on the ice in Sochi.

The hockey fan and leader of a nation to whom hockey is religion congratulated the team on its comeback victory.

Harper then quipped he was looking forward to the case of beer owed to him by U.S. President Barack Obama, who just the day before said he liked Canadians but his feelings might cool during Olympic hockey games.

The high-flying crowd cheered, then hit the tarmac after four days with Harper on his first official visit to Mexico.